1959 New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup

Bill Kempner and Alan Emus were selected for the British Team.

Ian Proctor described the canoe project for Bill Kempner (the canoe
used for the 1959 NYCC Cup challenge) as:-

"Bill was a dedicated and expert canoe sailor. He made his
objectives quite clear, he wanted a boat in which he could win back
the New York Canoe Club Trophy from the Americans. He was confident
he had the skills, he wanted the instrument that would best respond
to those skills. Four successive wins for my designs in the National
12 and Merlin-Rocket championship, much reinforced by the fact that
we probably had the best small boat building firm in the country at
that time, if not the world, to put this boat together- Jack
Chippendale.

"This Mark II hull, though fairly powerful for it's beam, was
4 inches narrower than 'Pronto's'. The bow waterlines, in particular
were much slimmer and there was less rocker forward. To compensate
for loss of displacement forward, the stern sections were flattened a
little. Obviously, this moved the centre of buoyancy aft and the
sliding seat had to be moved aft too to put the weight in the right
place.

"A curved, ladder slide and the helmsman's expertise made
absolutely unnecessary any thought of high freeboard amidships to
keep him and the deck out of the water (midships freeboard was 2.1/4
inches less). Tiller and mainsheet systems were improved. The basic
construction remained similar.

The two boat team of Bill Kempner in 'Folly 'and Alan Emus in
'Shrike' successfully challenged for the New York Canoe Club Trophy
in September 1959. 'Folly' won both races over a 3 mile course, the
first by 4 mins 30 secs and the second by 1 min 15 secs. The Proctor
mark II was essentially a development of the 'Spindrift' design of
Uffa Fox."